Settle (A Spencer Reid and Austen Nickson - Love Story)
by this-lost-soul
Summary: Austen. His memories of Austen where poetry. The way the August sun shone on her hair. The slight smirk that danced across her lips playfully as she spoke. Her slend hands caressing the books she called her friends. Nothing could take the memories away from him.
1. Bathroom Intrusion

Austen felt him close behind her. Closer than she expected. His hot breathe bore menacingly down her next as he pulled her dull brown hair to one side, revealing her pail neck. He pushed himself closer to her, causing her thighs to slam hard against the porcelain sink. She cried out reaching forward and grasping hold of the bathroom cabinet to stabilise herself. His trail of kisses along the nape of her neck had become vicious, he began to suck and bite on her raw skin. His hand now placed firmly on the other side of her neck entangled in her long hair.

He grunted as she tried to pull his hand away. He now had both his hands wrapped round her throat dominantly. The kisses had stopped now and he had left marks along the places he had be sucking and bitting. The purply marks danced across her pale skin as she began to struggle for air. He was still close but as she let out a strangled plea his grip loosened. As his hands snaked down her sides she turned to face him, her face a blank canvas. He placed a hand on the back of her neck bringing her forhead to rest on his forcefully. "Where did the spark go, eh?" His thick New York accent lacing his words. "No light sparkle in your eye," his fingers twinkled quickly beside her face. "You used to love this shit." His voice grew just loudr than the whisper he was speaking in before as he shock her violently. "Hey?... A little rough... and tumble..." he kissed her brutally on her jaw and neck in between words. "Come on Aussie, play with me here." She grimaced at the sound of the nickname he had given her. It sounded like something you would call a dog.

He began to tire of this game, nosing her head up and viciously sucking and bitting on her neck. His hand once again crawling their way around her body, beginning to rub her through her jeans. She couldn't move now her body trapped between him and the sink. She began to struggle against him. It was exactly what he wanted. "Hey hey hey, there we go gimme some fight girl." She thrashed violently as he moved round to her waistband, grabbing at her wrists. "Add some voice to it come on come on girl!" She followed the command pressing her forhead hard against his yelling before bringing her balled hands up and smacking him in the chin. As he howled grasping his jaw, she pushed her knee against his chest sending him stumbling backwards.

She was not having it today. They had been together since they graduated. She had been different then. They had both changed. She wasn't proud of her past and he was the daily reminder of it. She reached for her bag by the door of their apartment. She stopped to glace at the time. This was a mistake. He lurched for her needle in hand. She brought her arms across her chest feeling the old entry marks the needles left on her skin from her old life. It was her way of coping. She was always tempted when it seemed to much but she was stronger now. "What's the matter Aussie?" She realised she had frozen starring at the drug in his hand. "You want to share some-" She cut him off slamming her hand on the doorknob, wrenching the heavy door open, pulling it loudly shut behind her.

She could hear the shattering of something against the wall as she scampered quickly from the building to the side walk hands searching her bag for her keys. Hand slamming onto the car door she shoved the key in turning before throwing her bag in and climbing in after it now allowing herself to think. She rested her head to the steering wheel breathing slow and deep, sitting up and starting the car.


	2. Mistaken Identity

Driving away from the apartment and towards work she could feel the "love bites" raised on her skin. They were sore and would be obvious under her white shirt she cursed herself doing up a button higher than usual in attempt to cover the reminders of what had happened in the bathroom up. For Austen this was a weekly thing, that Joe came home, after pulling an all nighter, overly horny and pumped up. Normally she would have let him do what he liked just to get it over with quickly but she was angry today. Today something had snapped and she was done. She just wanted to get to work and forget. Just forget. She turned there was the drug store. She had to drive past it every day. The amount of times she had just wanted to slip inside and get something just to take the edge off. She could. She used to at other stores before she got this job. She was smart. Really smart. She had just spent most of her life with people who told her she wasn't. She believed them for a while until she had been asked to join the B.A.U. after passing her tests with flying colours. That was the moment she promised she would leave all of it behind. Joe clung like a bad smell. He was always there waiting and tempting.

She managed another day of the drive with out going into the drug store. It was a small victory but it made a better start to the day than it had been so far. After passing a few more empty blocks she turned the corner into the parking lot for agents. Pulling the car to a halt

in her normal space she cut the engine. Silence filled the car and she was great full. She pushed her sleave up checking the time. 6:39. A tad earlier than normal but she normally was when Joe was like this. It had been happening alot recently. He had become more dependent again and depending on how much he took made him more dependent on her being ready for a good fuck when he got home. "Um-Jane?" A knock on the window interrupted her though. She didn't need to look up to know who it was. Jane. Jane was a term of endearment that Spencer Reid used when it was just them. It derived from her being called Austen, after the English writer Jane Austen. She liked it. It was beautiful.

She looked up giving a salute to the young man before pushing the door open. "Your early?" He questioned cocking his head to one side and furrowing his thick brown eyebrows in confusion. "I am?" Austen played naive reaching back into the passenger side grabbing her large black bag, before turning on her heels coyly and heading for the door. "You average a time of getting here round 6:45" He stated catching up with me. "You're early." He restated. Passing through the sliding doors she kept quiet heading for the stairs. "Maybe your early." She tossed the remark. He chuckled under his breath as they started on the stairs. Austen turned quickly to face him. "You don't have to walk with me." She stated, knowing he would normally take the elevator. "I thought I would keep you company." He smiled a small

smile before walking past her a few steps. She hated the elevator and Spencer knew about her claustrophobia. He didn't mind taking the stairs with her. It was actually kind of nice, almost comforting, he thought as her feet melodically placed on each step. They silently climbed the stairs together and he didn't mind. She was quiet. He liked that about her. He could tell she was just lost creating her own place in her head as they walked the stairs and it was wonderful to him that the silence didn't seem silent at all as they walked together that morning.

After a couple more floors the sight of the glass doors leading to their desks was welcome. Spencer leaned opening the door with his back as she laughed musically passing into the bull pen. She smiled down at the coffee Spencer had given her on the way up. "Well some one looks pleased with themselves," Garcia chimmed in. Austen looked up to see her and Morgan already at his desk eating their normal breakfast from a little place round the corner. Morgan rose from his seat slyly wagging a finger at Austen. "You little devil, I think someone got some action!" He turns round her as she walks to her desk. "And we all know Reid is off the list, judging by those hickey marks its got to be a man. So who is the lucky guy?" Austen rubbed her hand consciously round her slim neck as she tried to think of something. "I-uh..." No one at work knew about Joe. Work was a place she was not going to share her past with. Looking past Morgan

her eyes met Spencer's who was standing dumbfounded at the door. "Just some guy at a bar." She tried shrugging it off. Spencer looked at the ground flustered for a moment before walking to the break room quickly. Not before he heard Morgan slapping her on the back exclaiming something about him teaching her well.


	3. Cover Up

Spencer stared down at the coffee grasped between his two skinny hands. He lent against the wall in the break room waiting for the day to truly start. As he stared into the blackened water steaming in the cup, he allowed his thoughts to stray to Austen. The two had always been close. He enjoyed their mutual understanding of one another. She always seem to be reserved. When she was with him she was still reserved, just less so. He appreciated that they all needed their space. She just liked a little more than others. He chuckled under his breath thinking of her smirk that danced across her cheeks when they spoke.

"What's so funny?" Spencer swung round to where the voice had come from. "I um - Jane... hello." She lent against the door frame a copy of The Grimm Fairytales tucked under her arm. He hadn't registered her entrance to the room. As she stepped fully through the door he pushed away from the wall placing his coffee on the cabinet. "I was just thinking of something funny I read." She snorted playfully, tucking a stray bit of brown hair behind her ear. He watched the way her slender frame moved as she walked to a cupboard. He had never truly admired just how synchronized all her movement's seemed. He stopped admiring as she reached to take something from the top shelf. The white puckered end of a scar peaked round the hem of her shirt as it rose with her attempt to reach the high place. A hand quickly pulled at the hem. Spencer shook himself out of it realising he had been staring. He looked up to see what she had been searching for. She turned to face him fully holding the spare shirt in one hand and a fold down concealer in the other. She pushed the hand holding the concealer out to him, offering it. "You know I wouldn't normally ask, but would you just..." She trailed of, stroking the side of her neck where the purple splodges lay. Reid took the plastic case from her hand, understanding what she meant. "Sure, no it's fine." She turned a little thanking him as he stepped closer, popping the lid of the concealer open. As she undide the first couple of buttons on her blouse Spencer struggled to hold in his shock as she revealed her no longer pail skin that was red raw. The small puple dots that rested above her collar where nothing compared to the painful red marks that seemed to cover most of one side of her neck. He opened his mouth to say something as his fingers almost skimmed the surface of the red blotches. "Spencer don't," she was quiet "just don't ask."

There was an understanding silence between them as he lightly covered the flesh red raw with the cover up. His fingers danced slowly along her neck making sure to not press to hard or linger to long, so as not to hurt her more than it seemed someone had. Most of the marks seemed to dull in colour as he brushed on the substance, occasionally stopping when he reached a particularly sore area on the skin. As he did this Austen was silent. She seemed to trust him to do this without needing an explanation. They trusted each other but they both had secrets. A sudden movement in the door caused Spencer to turn, holding the concealer behind him back and stepping away from Austen. Agent Hotchner coughed looking at the ground before addressing them. "We have a case, wheels up in twenty."

Spencer turned back to Austen who was holding her collar to her neck tightly. She began to laugh, slowly shaking her head, before wandering to the door. Reid turned to see her leave. "Jane?" She stopped facing him. "Was that really from some guy in a bar?" Spencer spoke softly. They stood in silence for a moment. I harsh uncomfortable silence. Not like the ones they had shared before. The silence was closing in as Reid looked at the girl caught in the headlights in front of him. Austen had one arm wrapped round herself the other rested protectively over the covered marks on her neck. She looked at the grey speckled carpet as his eyes pleaded with her to just talk to him. She wasn't ready. After minutes of uncomfortable silence she simply nodded before turning away from him and walking quickly towards her desk. Spencer was left in the empty room. He knew there was something more. She wasn't the type of person to sleep with random guys in bars. Not random guys who left marks like that. « Prev


	4. Pin Prick

"This perp looks like he has been around for some time. 8 unidentified victims. All Jane Does. All look to have been been involved in some kind of physical abuse. All but one have lynch marks along with what looks like brandings. We have a time range of 2 weeks ago to 7 months. Two teen girls Stacey and best friend Hannah where walking home from work at a local dinner on Tuesday and haven't been seen since. Parents have sent out full missing persons reports, social media post, door to door checks, you name it these guys have done it." Garcia listed of information from the file while the others listened in the plane to Seattle, Washington. Spencer sat flicking through the photos of the mass grave that had been found. "The girls are graduates from South Lake High School in Rainier Valley, started working to gain money for travel before university. The interesting thing is that these two actually ran another job at Rick's or Uncle Rick's night entertainment at weekends. And by night entertainment I am sure you can all grasp that I don't mean late night tv." Garcia joked leaning closer to the screen, before wishing them good luck and signing off.

Reid watched the screen go blank before turning and sliding back into his seat by the window. Austen climbed past Morgan and into the seat next to him pulling out the book she was reading. Spencer turned quickly to her making sure the others where deep in their own conversions. He watched as she settled the thick book down knowing he wanted to talk. Her hand rested on the cool page that she traced her fingers over. Spencer watched her do this taking a moment before speaking in a hushed voice. "Are you... good - okay or -" he stumbled. "Never been better." She smiled turning to face him moving her hair away from her face. "Are you?" She enquired back playfully. Spencer's eye searched her face. "Be truthful with me Jane." He spoke so softly she could have missed it. She liked that about him. He didn't feel the need to be loud, and a private conversion between them was always private.

He reached out placing a hand on top of hers slowly. As he did this his sleave rose. Austen saw the tiny pin marks than dotted along the crease of his inner arm. She looked up at him in shock. Their eyes met. Seeing the sudden panic in her eyes Spencer drew his his hand back, misunderstanding her shock. "I'm sorry that was-" he was cut off as she grabbed his wrist stopping him from pulling back. He stopped frozen by her sudden movement. She ran her fingers along the inside of Spencer's arm, travelling to the now covered marks. Realising how close her fingers were to the edge of his sleave Spencer began to panic, a tempting to pull his arm back her slammed his and onto hers, stopping her from going any further. He looked up meeting her gaze. He shook his head "Jane please." "We can get help." "I don't need help." They spoke in desperately hushed tones. "Let me see them Spencer." "If you show me yours I'll show you mine." He snapped harshly. Austen stopped. "What?" She spoke just above a whisper. Spencer looked away. He screwed up his eyes brushing his hands through his hair. "No...I just-" He started. "What do you mean show me yours?" Her voice was stern but hurt. She sat looking at him waiting for a response. "What are your scars from?" She didn't reply. "You have marks on your stomach and neck Jane. " He stated calmly. It was her turn to look away. She stared at the book infront of her, keeping incredibly still. He moved closer to her once again, he rested his hand on her upper arm sliding down to rest by her elbow in his final plea. Slowly calculating what to say next he ran a hand through his hair before trying to catch her attention. Opening his mouth he began to speak. "I don'-" she pulled her arm from his grip roughly turning away and standing in one swift motion. Spencer stood shocked, watching her as she walked to the bathroom at the end of the plane and slammed the door shut.

She turned the lock slowly now she was inside, resting her forehead to the grey door. Closing her eyes she breathed deeply. Her hands pressed flat against the door as she a tempted to regain her thoughts. Anger rose inside her boiling. He had no right. None he had never cared before. Why. Why should she let him in now. No. He didn't have the right to know anything.

Spencer slowly walked passed the others on the aircraft, who continued to talk unaware of what had happened. Reaching the door which concealed Austen he placed a hand in the middle of the door. It swung open. He was stood close to Austen who had roled down her sleaves and done her shirt up to the top button. Her eyes were stormy as he looked down at her. As he attempted to place a hand on her shoulder he spoke softly but stern. "Please." He looked around the cabin and she understood. He had a secret as well.


End file.
